Paris Summer Activities with Kids

Magazine Vivre Paris Kids special edition, buy at any press store or kiosk

Walk through a forest, discover a castle, look over the plains from a chateau, go to the beach, take a bike tour, go to a show, see antique carnival rides and play antique carnival games, play pingpong, skateboarding, teenagers … With all the summer activities available for kids in Paris, I don’t know if the parents are going to have time for a romantic Paris dinner at the newly opened Ritz … Well, yes, you can with a babysitter service.

What follows is a list of suggestions for finding some activities this summer. It would take a book or at least a magazine to list everything.

Resources
The magazine: “Vivre Paris” sells a special “Vivre Paris Kids” edition that gives ideas (in French but the links and addresses are bilingual) on family outings (au grand air); shopping (marmots stylés), play time in spite of the rain (on bouge, on joue malgré la pluie), cooking classes (petits gourmets), go to the circus or a show (au spectacle), teenager activities (rien que pour les ados), getting out of the city (on prend le large), etc.

The Paris Tourist Office opened an office at the Mairie de Paris (Mayor’s office) in Hôtel de Ville. The souvenir store, Paris Rendez-vous, is across the department store, BHV/Marais on rue de Rivoli where you can pick up free Paris guide books, biking information and cute souvenirs.

Paris Plages runs from July 20 to August 21 and is open 9 am to midnight. One of the local metro newspapers, Direct Matin and the Paris Tourist Office, said on July 7, that an additional two weeks had been added to the event, ending September 4. Nothing has yet appeared from from the Mairie de Paris (mayor’s office) about this.

Finding Nemo
A special Oceans by Disney event is scheduled for August 17 between 2 pm and 10 pm.
Activities related to the film “Finding Nemo” will take place on the plaza in front of Hôtel de Ville (parvis) between 2 pm and 8 pm.
The film “Finding Nemo” will be shown on a giant screen at 8 pm.

Don’t miss this museum: Musée des Arts Forains. They have regularly scheduled visits in English of this great collection of carnival rides and games.